Heading Back to Australia With Henry Luong’s EVO 8 MR

Since we started back in 2010, we’ve come across people with interesting tales from around the world. Little or small, each tale taught us to live and make every second count. A couple of weeks back, a storyteller by the name of Chris Lim got in touch with us. He, like us, is a photographer who is passionate about cars, art, and photography. During the time he contacted us, he had a story in the works. He was working on a chapter that featured a clean EVO 8 MR. As a photographer, he fueled his story through pictures, but at the same time, Henry Luong, the owner of this proper EVO 8 MR, chimed in and told us his story about how his build came to fruition.

Henry Luong:
Back in high school during our lunch breaks, my friends would occasionally discuss what future car they would get, or plan to get when they got their licence. DC5R, FD RX7, SIL80, S15, V8, K20, SR20, RB26 were some of the things in the conversation. These letters and numbers were just gibberish to me as I had no idea what they were talking about. Taking a stab to fit in I would make comments such as ‘Oh yeah it has 6 cylinders yeah?’, ‘that thing is quick!’ or just standing there smiling and nodding like Derp.

Once I attained my probationary licence I settled down for a Honda Civic. It was not the first choice I had in mind as I wanted something faster, a turbo maybe? But the laws in Victoria, Australia states that an individual with a probationary licence cannot drive a high performance car or a car equipped with a turbo, so a Honda Civic it was! At this point I still had no clue about cars, how do I change a wheel? How does an engine work? Ohh that’s the battery, I don’t like being zapped… but we all have to start somewhere right? Slowly simple modifications started to roll in – HID, interior lights, lower springs, lip kit. It was a learning curve, what do I plan to do? There was no point to make the car ridiculously fast as there was no potential to begin with so I went the full VIP treatment on the car. Rims, bagged suspension and a sound system.

I was happy with the car until the day I received my full driver’s license. This meant a turbocharged vehicle was now on my mind, I had always like the EVO but never had the money to maintain one let alone afford one. I was adamant that an EVO 9 would be the only one I’d buy and nothing else, but they were all out of my price range. After a few months of searching and no luck, my friend Heng purchased an JDM EVO 8MR. He kept trying to persuade me to get this model as there were hardly any difference over the 9, but I had the mentality and mind set on a 9 and nothing else. Another few months had gone by and still no luck on a good condition 9 in my price range. Things were looking gloomy.

One night I had decided to head up north a bit to visit a few of my other friends and one who likes to be called Stanley I discovered had recently purchased an JDM EVO 8MR. Had a chat and he explained to me the difference between the JDM EVO 8MR and AUDM EVO 9. He had also told me the price he picked his ride up for. I was gobsmacked as this was within my price range and there was little difference between the two models. That night once I arrived home I jumped straight onto the computer and searched up all the JDM EVO 8MR’s that was for sale and bingo, I managed to find one in great condition, low ks in white and a bonus, it had a 9 front and rear bumper. Only downside was it was located interstate… Sydney.

After numerous phone calls with the seller and inspection workshops I got the green light to fly up and purchase the car. The previous owner was quite sad to see the car go and it took me a while to realise that I own an EVO, wow. The drive back was horrendous, bumpy roads, loud exhaust and stiff suspension, not to mention there was little sleep involved. The car arrived safely back in Melbourne looking fairly stock.

A few months had gone by, debts paid off, and it was now time to get some modifications and goodies in. At this point I had a fair enough understanding of the car but still had no idea how to modify the car performance wise. TD05? What is a TD05? Tell me! Yup, that was me. So I started where I knew best, exterior styling. Rims, carbon this, carbon that, more lows, new exhaust to make it look bling and replaced the 8MR wing to a 9 wing. It was pretty much an EVO 9 replica on the outside. Now it was time to do some performance up grades, “power!” as Jeremy Clarkson says. An air intake, full exhaust and a ECU reflash later the car currently sits on 260kw at the wheels with stock internals and stock turbo with thanks to the boy at Road Track Rally.

1 Comment

Love the article guys. Sick ride. I have a 05 EVO 8. No, its not the MR but i wish it was lol. I am in the market for one atm too. I want to set mine up literally the same way you have it on exterior. I honestly think there is nothing better then the MR 9 body kit with a base color on the 8’s. Especially with those rims and tinted lights/windows. Did you buy those lights (front and rear) like that? or did you tint them?